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Iran knew day of crash their missile was to blame for Ukraine plane crash

Author of the article:

Reuters

Publishing date:

January 11, 2020 • 3 minute read

Rescue teams recover debris from a field after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in the Iranian capital Tehran early in the morning on Jan. 8, 2020, killing everyone on board.AFP via Getty Images

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A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said on Saturday he knew a missile had brought down a Ukrainian plane the same day it happened and accepted full responsibility, saying his force had acted in error while on alert for “all-out war.”

Iran had for days denied a missile hit the Boeing 737-800 on Wednesday shortly after taking off from Tehran, sending it crashing to the ground and killing all 176 people aboard.

Iran knew day of crash their missile was to blame for Ukraine plane crashBack to video

“I wish I could die and not witness such an accident,” the head of the Guards’ aerospace division, Amirali Hajizadeh, said on state television.

The aircraft came down after Iran had launched missile strikes on U.S. targets in Iraq in retaliation for the killing in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq of Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Guards’ Quds Force. Iran had expected U.S. reprisals.

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“That night we had the readiness for all-out war,” Hajizadeh said, adding air defence units were on the highest alert and an extra ring of defences had been set up around Tehran.

The commander said the Guards had requested commercial flights be halted but he said the requests were not acted upon.

He said also said he had been informed about the missile strike on the Ukrainian passenger plane on Wednesday.

“I informed the authorities. They had to examine and check the accident and from there it went to (military superiors) who worked really fast and within 48 hours these checks were done,” he said.

In a written statement, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged the grim news.

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“Our focus remains closure, accountability, transparency and justice for the families and loved ones of the victims,” he said. “This is a national tragedy, and all Canadians are mourning together. We will continue working with our partners around the world to ensure a complete and thorough investigation, and the Canadian government expects full co-operation from Iranian authorities.”

There are 10 Canadian officials from Global Affairs Canada and two investigators from the Transportation Safety Board in Turkey waiting to get visas to enter Iran so they can both be part of the investigation and provide consular services to families of Canadian victims. Only two visas had been issued as of Friday night, said Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne.

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He urged Iran to issue the visas quickly.

As recently as Friday, Iranian officials had rigorously denied accusations by Canada, the United States and others that Iran shot the plane down albeit by mistake. One Iranian official had said such an explanation was “scientifically” impossible. The Guards commander defended those Iranian officials, saying they were only commenting based on information they were given.

Hajizadeh said the air defence operator involved had 10 seconds to decide whether to shoot or not. “In this situation, unfortunately, he made this bad decision,” he said.

He also said the operator should have secured approval from a supervisor to launch his weapon but his means of communication was down, Hajizadeh said.

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Nadia Eghbali, whose aunt, uncle and eight-year-old cousin died in the crash, said it was hard to process all of her emotions after hearing the Iranian government admit that they accidentally shot the plane down.

“We’re in complete shock, we’re full of so much emotion. There’s anger, there’s so many things, we just don’t know why this happened,” said Eghbali. “At a time like this, they needed to stop all flights. It should have been stopped to prevent anything like this.”

Nina Saeidpour, whose friend Kasra Saati died in the crash, said Iran’s admission stirred up “mixed emotions.” Saeidpour, from Calgary, said Saati had travelled to Iran over the holidays for a reunion with his wife and two children.

“In some ways we are happy that our government just came forward and said that they did it instead of hiding everything. On the other hand everybody is again in shock about why such a thing should happen,” Saeidpour said.

Iran has said those responsible for the accident would be held to account.

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